Thanks for sponsoring me, OFNC!
by Sophie Roy Dear OFNC, I would like to thank you for sponsoring me for the Ontario Nature Youth Summit in Orillia. I had an amazing time and learned so much during my weekend by the lake! I really wanted to go to the summit because I felt that I needed to involve myself in the community more. I am new to the OFNC, and before this group I knew of no group or community that was interested in nature. [...]
The changing world of birds in the Ottawa Gatineau District – a 50-year perspective
by Richard Singhroy Richard Singhroy is a student at the University of Ottawa. As part of the university’s Community Service Learning program, he has volunteered to report on several OFNC outings and meetings. On Tuesday November 10, the monthly OFNC meeting started with a few announcements from Mark Brenchey. After drawing our attention to the sale of lens wipes by the Education and Publicity Committee, Mark went on to talk about the Youth Summit, now in its eight year, and [...]
Fossil hunting at Macoun Marsh
by Richard Singhroy Richard Singhroy is a student at the University of Ottawa. As part of the university's Community Service Learning program, he has volunteered to report on several OFNC outings and meetings. On November 7, he joined the Geology Interest Group to look for fossils. Coral fossils spotted at Macoun Marsh (click for larger image) Now, it wasn’t digging for dinosaurs, but something equally interesting. First a bit about Macoun Marsh. It is a small patch of [...]
Late fall birding
by Richard Singhroy Richard Singhroy is a student at the University of Ottawa. As part of the university's Community Service Learning program, he has volunteered to report on several OFNC outings and meetings. On Sunday, November 1 at 8 am, a group of Ottawa Field-Naturalist Club members met at Andrew Haydon Park to do some birding. Birding is the act of cataloguing local birds. It is great for getting fresh air and learning about the different types of birds. Mark [...]
Grasshopper outing contributes to Constance Bay Biothon
by P.M. Catling and B. Kostiuk This article appeared originally in the fall 2015 issue of Trail & Landscape Figure 1. Part of the grasshopper study group with the habitat of regionally rare Boll’s grasshopper in the foreground, 27 Sept. 2014. Photo by B. Kostiuk. On Saturday, 27 September 2014, twenty OFNC members gathered to participate in an OFNC outing organized to help gather information for the Constance Bay Biothon (Fig. 1). The area of interest here is [...]
Victory for the Snapping Turtles!
By David Seburn They say you can’t fight city hall. However, sometimes you can motivate the powers that be. Can you see the baby snapper? Can you see how high that curb must look to it? Photo by Ian Whyte For some time now, it has been known that hatchling Snapping Turtles (officially listed as a species at risk) are killed on the road to the water filtration plant at the Britannia Conservation Area, or Mud Lake. (See [...]
Butterfly Hunting in the National Capital Region
By Richard Singhroy Richard Singhroy is a 2nd-year environmental studies student at the University of Ottawa. This fall, he is volunteering with the OFNC through the Community Service Learning program. Presenter Rick Cavasin On Tuesday, October 13, at the Central Experimental Farm's K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Rick Cavasin gave an in-depth presentation on the butterflies and butterfly habitats of the Ottawa region. Rick is a butterfly enthusiast and an expert butterfly photographer whose images have appeared in [...]
Remembering Laurie Consaul
by Fenja Brodo, President, OFNC Family, friends and colleagues of Laurie Consaul came out to a tree planting in her memory on September 30th. A Hickory (Carya cordiformis) sapling was lovingly planted by Mark Armstrong, Laurie’s husband and special friend. Mark Armstrong, planting a hickory tree for Laurie (this photo and the one above left by Colin Freebury) The hole had been dug by Diane Lepage. She and her committee had prepared the ground very well for this event [...]
Marvy MacSkimming mushrooms
by Lynn Ovenden The Ottawa-Carleton school board's MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre is a wonderful place just west of Rockland, with marshy shoreline along the Ottawa River, old meadows and ponds on the nearshore slopes, and a mature, upland mixed forest with lots of hemlock and beech. Once a year, staff invite the general public to visit the property and enjoy various outdoor activities. A feature of "Open Trails Day" which was October 3 this year, was a fall mushroom workshop [...]